Read-a-Thon Winter 2021: Team Reindeer

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Book Shelves Team Challenge
For this team challenge, teams will be reading books for each of the book shelves listed below. Like in team challenges past, you will need to communicate with your team to determine who is reading a book for which shelf so nothing gets missed and you don't spend the week all reading the same shelves. There are 90 shelves to choose from. Your team is not expected to read a book for every shelf. Instead, the object is to read as many books as you can for as many shelves as you can. The team who reads the most shelves at the end of the week will be the winner!

For the list of rules, see our Introduction Thread

TEAM REINDEER
Jen K
Roxana
RachelG
Samantha
Chrissy
Jillian
Laurel
Kathryn

Your Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Personal Shelves
2021-Reading-Challenge
Abandoned
Book-Club
Books-I-Own
Cover-Love
Currently-Reading
Did-Not-Finish
Have
Maybe
Need
Own
Reviewed
Series
Stand-Alone
TBR
To-Buy
Want
Wishlist

Rating Shelves
1-Star
2-Stars
3-Stars
4-Stars
5-Stars
Favorite
Favorite-Authors
Hated
Loved
Must-Read

Genre Shelves
Adventure
Biography
Contemporary
Cozy-Mystery
Cyber-Punk
Epistolary
Fantasy
Fiction
Ghost-Story
Gothic
Graphic-Novel
Historical
Horror
Humor
Legal-Thriller
Memoir
Mystery
Mythology
Non-Fiction
Poetry
Romance
Sci-Fi
True-Crime
Urban-Fantasy
Western
Young Adult

Source/Format Shelves
ARC
Audiobook
Borrowed
Bought
Kindle
Library
Nook
Paperback

Location Shelves
Africa
Antarctica
Asia
Australia
Europe
North-America
South-America

China
France
Germany
Italy
Malaysia
Mexico
Spain
Thailand
United-Kingdom
United-States

Theme Shelves
Blue-Cover
Cozy
Food
Friendship
Snowy
White-Cover
Winter

Year Shelves
2019
2020
2021
2022

[Jillian]

Hi fellow reindeer!

I'm pretty limited on what I'm going to be reading this week. Unfortunately, all my planned books that I'd like to finish (for a different challenge) before the end of the year are really really long. I will be able to finish two the them but it is really iffy if I can read all three. I have about 35 hours left of The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (23 hours if I speed it up to 1.5 my normal listening speed). It works for a ton of spots on the challenge.

I'm starting Scepters by L.E. Modesitt Jr. tonight and it is only 738 pages long so I will have more than a 100 pages left. It only works for 4 spots on the challenge.

I have Wizard and Glass by Stephen King on both kindle and audio book but with it being over 1,000 pages and I only started it yesterday...it is pretty unlikely that I will finish it this week. If I some how do finish it, it works for a ton of spots.

I won't be able to fill in many spots but should be able to help more with the wild cards. I don't see how many pages/audio hours equal a wild card.

[Chrissy]

I have more than 100 pages to go in The Sentence, and once that’s done I can choose from Hunting by Stars, Intimacies, and two others I am blanking on. I’ll spend some time tonight figuring out which shelves each is on. Oh, also Snape: A Definitive Reading!

[Samantha]

Hi Team, I have 3 books checked out from the library and an ARC I need to read all of them are mystery/thriller types. I will probably start with I Let You Go because I need to return it soon so I added it to the spreadsheet.

Looking forward to getting started tomorrow!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Jillian wrote: "I don't see how many pages/audio hours equal a wild card"

Oops, it's 2500 pages or 25 hours of listening!

[Jillian]

Thanks, Emily!

[Roxana]

Hi team!

I've got a few books already on the go (with more than 100 pages left for tomorrow) plus a few others I'm planning to get to this week, and I've put them into the planning tab with the several shelf options they fit. But here are what I suspect will be their best uses, based on what else is in there so far:

Pale Fire: poetry, humor, must-read
Master and Commander: adventure, historical, europe
A Lot Like Adiós: romance, arc
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett: friendship, humor, arc
The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights: gothic, ghost story, winter, 4-stars

[RachelG.]

I have a lot of books I have been saving and tonight I plan to make a list for myself of what shelves they can fill before I decide what to start with.

[RachelG.]

I am spreadsheet challenged. If I move the totals column down will it mess something up? I want to add a book to the sheet and we seem out of space.

[Jillian]

Rachel, I added some more columns.

[RachelG.]

Thanks Jillian

[Kelly Sj]

Hello! This is my first time participating in a team challenge for a read-a-thon. I signed up late, after realizing it seemed like good timing to participate - finals week just ended so I have some projects to grade and a couple meetings on Monday, but otherwise not much going on during the week! I put the two books I'm currently reading in the spreadsheet so far (one works for Spain and the other for True Crime, among other options), and I have several shorter books on hand that will fall into a variety of shelves.

[Jen K]

Hey all! Excited for the readathon! I will be visiting family most of next week so the reading might be slightly slow during the week but hopefully I can make up for it on the two flights. I have a few books started that I will add to the spreadsheet. One will need to be just pages read since I have less than a 100 pages left but the others will work.

I've started Confessions of a Curious Bookseller, Starsight and Anarchy and Old Dogs.

[RachelG.]

I finished my first book and added it to the completion sheet. I am thinking we should color in the shelf chosen for each book to make it easier for everyone to see which has been completed. Is that okay? I chose red to be festive but if someone wants a different color I am totally fine with that.

[Jillian]

Rachel, I clicked on the check mark for your chosen shelf and looks like Emily set up a formula to turn the whole row green. I went ahead and added the red then to the planning sheet shelf.


I went ahead and added a green box in my books' columns in planning thread to which shelf I think I'll use my book for (the least open options shelf).

[Kathryn]

Hi everyone! I was just put on Team Reindeer. I think a few of us were on the same team during the last readathon. I’m excited for this one.

Right now I’m reading News of the World which is mainly classified as either historical fiction or western (
I’ll probably use it for the latter since it’s a harder category to fill). My husband and I are planning to listen to The Lightning Thief on our drive down to Southern CA, which works for fantasy, young adult, adventure and a variety of other categories.

Where are all of you from? We live in Napa, CA.

[Kathryn]

By the way, good job Rachel G!

[RachelG.]

Thanks for checking on the spreadsheet Jillian. I appreciate your knowledge.

Welcome to the group Kathryn. I live near Seattle, WA.

[Jen K]

Slowly getting some pages read but may not have completed books until tomorrow. I live in the Washington, DC area but I'm head to Berkeley, CA tomorrow morning for the week at my brother's place for the holiday. The 3 little ones are 6 and under and excited for auntie to visit so it will be a hectic week.

Thanks for the extra guidance on the spreadsheet!

[Kelly Sj]

I read a short (but just long enough to count) book In the Wolf's Lair today - I plugged it in for "4-stars" on the completion tab of the spreadsheet which seemed like the best option for now.

I'm in northern Minnesota and I generally hibernate indoors with books for the winter. And I almost finished grading my students' final projects today :)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Hey Team Reindeer! I'm putting myself on your team. We have been in the middle of moving for the last couple of weeks, so I have very low hopes about my contributions for the Read-a-Thon, but I'm hoping to at least finish two or three books I own before going into the new year. I have three books left to finish my second round of ATY, so that's my goal for the week, though I've only been reading 25-50 pages a day with all the chaos.

[RachelG.]

Welcome to the team Emily!

The weather here has been horrible all day and so I have been able to stay inside and read. I hope to read one more book this evening or at least get most of it done.

[Jen K]

Wow, there are so many completed books already! Nice work everyone. I ended up finishing one as well.

[Chrissy]

I finished one and added it to the category with the fewest matches, hope that’s ok. I need to pick my next audiobook! Still working on The Book of Form and Emptiness too.

[Roxana]

I finished Pale Fire today and put it in for Poetry. I might finish Master and Commander tomorrow (I've got 6 hours of audio left), should be done with it Monday if not.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Hey everyone, just some housekeeping -- I have swapped out "northern-hemisphere" with "food", as northern hemisphere seemed to be very, very limited in its tags. I've adjusted your spreadsheets accordingly!

[Jillian]

Good morning, team!

Glad to have you joining Kathryn and Emily!

Emily, moving is so time consuming good luck!

I'm in New Mexico and much to the disappointment of my kids it will be in the 60s this week. I didn't get much reading done. Hopefully, this afternoon while football is on I can get more reading in.

[Chrissy]

I finished The Book of Form and Emptiness and slotted it in. Now I have to decide whether to read Snape: A Definitive Reading or Hollow Kingdom next. But today I also have a ton of chores and grading to get done, so probably limited to before-bed reading.

[Kathryn]

I finished The Love Hypothesis and put it in for Favorite (which seemed one of the harder ones to fill). I'm just about to startMexican Gothic although my son will probably wake up from nap soon, so I will most likely not get much read until later tonight.

How many of you are teachers? I've seen several people mention grading. I teach high school math and engineering. I managed to knock out all of my grading by Friday afternoon, which I'm really happy about.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I teach high school economics and personal finance! Our semester wrapped up on Friday, so I'm all done with grading.

[Jillian]

I teach students with dyslexia, language therapy. Thursday was the last day of sessions for the year.

[Roxana]

Hey folks! I just finished The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett and put it in for "friendship." I have a couple hours left of Master and Commander, so I'll be finishing that up before I fall asleep tonight! Hope everyone's day went well :)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I'm finishing up Ace of Spades this morning and will use it for "standalone".

Chrissy, are you reading the Tournament of Books shortlist? I was about to start The Book of Form and Emptiness, and I saw you are currently reading When We Cease to Understand the World. I just started Our Country Friends on audio, listened for an hour and a half, then DNF'd it lol.

[Kelly Sj]

College biology & statistics :)

I finished The Heretic: A Novel of the Inquisition (Spain) last night, and will take a look at the other books I have on hand to see which is best to read next. That one was a "slow book" so I'm hoping to pick up the pace a bit now that I'm done with it. Also still working on Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls which I might finish today or for sure by tomorrow (True Crime).

[Chrissy]

I teach high school chemistry and biology, and I’m procrastinating on grading my final exams!

Emily - yep, at least the ones that seem interesting. I got Intimacies out from the library, so I might get to that one this week too. Why didn’t Our Country Friends work for you? That’s one I was on the fence about trying. I loved the Ozeki and When We Cease… is right up my alley (see above - science teacher).

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I may have liked Our Country Friends but the narrator was very bland and a bit monotone. Might attempt it in print later if I get around to it, but pandemic books still feel a bit too close to home.

[Jen K]

When We Cease to Understand the World was fascinating! I enjoyed the ride. Former math teacher though, 8th and 9th Algebra. Now I work on education projects but I miss the students.

I finished an Epistolary book on the plane yesterday. Will keep reading but slow with a hectic household.

[Kelly Sj]

I decided to read The Scarlet Pimpernel next, no one had anything going for France yet and this book fits that shelf.

I also have a book for Africa, and a book for Memoir, both of which are currently empty in the spreadsheet, and I can finish them this week!

Edit: just discovered I have a book that will work for Germany also, and it's a thriller so will be another quick read

[Samantha]

I finished I Let You Go and put it under Did-Not-Finish all the options for this are pretty popular so just went with on that had a lower number.

Will get started on something new tonight or tomorrow.

[Roxana]

Today, I finished Master and Commander and put it in for "Europe"; The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, which I put on "reviewed"; and The Pajama Game, which I put on "book-club", as it doesn't fit very many (Not a whole lot of people logging 1950s musical comedy scripts on Goodreads, I guess 😆)

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Dang Roxana, you are a rockstar!

I didn't pick up a print book yesterday, but I did log 2.25 hours of The Book of Form and Emptiness. Probably won't finish that one before the end of the Read-a-Thon since it's nearly 19 hours long, but who knows how things will go.

Picking up Home Fire this morning, though, and I should definitely finish that one by Sunday.

[Kelly Sj]

I read The Scarlet Pimpernel in one sitting last night - what a fun book! This afternoon I finished Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls - this will probably be my best book of December. I also started The Meursault Investigation and Mortality today, and hope to finish at least one of them tonight so I can read The Air Raid Killer tomorrow! Happy reading everyone!

[RachelG.]

Wow Kelly! You are doing great with so many books!

[Chrissy]

I finished Snape: A Definitive Reading tonight, and will start Hollow Kingdom as my final AtY book of the year. Tomorrow I should be able to finish my audiobook and start a new short one.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Dang this team is full of rockstars!

I'm lol'ing at my "I'll definitely finish by Sunday" because I got my vaccine booster yesterday and ended up reading on the couch all afternoon. 66% done with Home Fire so I should finish today or tomorrow.

[Jillian]

I mainly made progress on my audio book. Hopefully, I will have more time to read on my paperback book. I'd like to finish it today but I doubt I will be able to read 316 pages today but who knows. I don't have as much going on today as I have had the past few days.

[Kelly Sj]

RachelG. wrote: "Wow Kelly! You are doing great with so many books!"

Thankful for some short ones I happened to have on hand that fit some of the less popular shelves! I knew my pandemic-related book hoarding would come in handy someday...

Kudos to the group for all the pages and hours logged so far - I'm impressed :)

[Samantha]

You guys are amazing! Sorry to be the slow poke of the group, I kind of knew I would be but was hoping I could log a few more hours of reading each day then I am.

I was hoping that I would get a bit out of a reading slump during this read-a-thon and I am really liking When No One is Watching and can't wait to read the rest of it later and hopefully that pushes me to want to read even more!

[Jen K]

Seriously, this is a powerhouse team! I finally finished another one last night. Just so busy with 3 littles ones and work. Who thought that December is the best time for performance reviews?